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Painting your Classics figures

I know not everyone is happy with the color of their figs and the flocked/unflocked issues (i.e. Panthor, Mossman's ears) so I'm sure a lot of you do it yourself. I was just wondering a few things about the process, and maybe get some tips/tricks and what worked and what went wrong.

What kind of paint do you use?
Do you use "model" paint?
How many coats?
Drying time?
How to remove/fix errors?
Is painting Classics figures a good idea?

Excepting King Grayskull (rerelease) cape brown from red. On that one I did about 3 coats. 2 of my choice of brown, and then a thick wash of a lighter brown. Not perfect, but it's great compaired to the red, I'm glad I did it. I may add another coat to lighten the colour again.

Otherwise, I've touched up flaws, paint mistakes or other problem areas. I use my games workshop brand model paints for the 40k miniatures. Works great and comes in a ton of colors.

I've actually painted more 200x figures, matching variants to the original color scheme.

But at any rate, it's awesome. I'd highly suggest it. and dont forget that sometimes you need primer, sometimes not. I try to avoid primer when I can because too many layers (or too thick of paint) hides detail. Test it.

I use acrylics designed for gaming miniature painting, mostly Vallejo and Citadel which are water-based, but also some Tamiya acrylics that work with alcoholic thinner. They don't mix when wet, but there seems to be no problems when used on top of each other after drying. Sometimes you absolutely need a primer, because certain plastics don't seem to take paint readily. If you don't want a total repaint, then at least in my experience the alcohol-based acrylics tend to stick better and create a layer that can be painted upon.

The amound of coats depends on what you are painting and with what paints. Covering a black surface with light colors takes more layers of paint than light on light or dark on dark. It's something you just have to see for yourself. Just remember to keep the paint well thinned with either water or alcoholic thinner to avoid leaving brush marks. That's something you learn by trial and error too, so it's good to practice with some rubbish toys first.

Drying time seems to vary. You can paint water-based acrylics on a previous layer fairly soon (within the same day definitely), but if you want to use alcohol-based ones, you need to give the paint plenty of time to dry properly or things may get messy. I'd say 24 hours is a minimum but I've seem much longer times quoted in places.

Fixing mistakes is something you need to take on an individual basis. Sometimes you can just paint another layer to hide whatever happened, sometimes you need to sand off the paint or use a cotton bud dipped in alcohol to remove the paint. Remember to only use the finest grit sandpapers for sanding, you don't want to damage the plastic underneath.

A good idea if you want to paint a figure completely is to sand the areas of the joints that rub together to remove some plastic or previous layers of paint. Otherwise the paint may be rubbed off or the joint may end up stuck because of the paint. (This is something I sadly don't quite excel in yet).

As for is it a good idea? Definitely. It's fun! A well thought out repaint can also bring out details of the sculpt that get lost in the simple factory paint job. As an example, this is the standard Skeletor face with just three layers of paint:

This would be the wrong area to ask.

I'm sure this will be moved to the Fan Creations forum's custom figure area soon enough.

What kind of paint do you use?
Acrylic paint. ~$2 a bottle. Drying time is maybe 30 minutes per coat, probably less. Fix errors by painting over them, carefully wiping them off quickly, or don't make any errors.
Painting figures is a great idea!

Ok, thanks to everyone, I got the joint out, fixed the problem and got it back in. Seems that it's easier to get back in from below when the bottom of the foot is removed. I don't have a heat gun (I didn't even know there were heat guns) and my hairdryer is useless when it comes to heating plastic, but hot water did the trick. Water itself may not help, but the heat conducted by it sure does.

But now I have a bigger challenge facing me. I decided to go nuts and try to mod 200X Skeletor's feet for MOTUC Skelly, but I'm not sure what the wisest course of action here is. Should I just make the appropriate holes with a dremel from the top and bottom and then try to pop in the ankle joint, or is there some way of splicing the old and new foot together that would work better?

This is totally unfamiliar territory for me, so if you have prior experience, please help!

Thanks for the tips, guys! Much appreciated! I like the hairdryer idea too. I hate waiting for stuff to dry. Love the Skeletor head! Nice work.

The reason why I ask is because I'm planning on painting the Griffin's wings the two toned browns that have been suggested. Light brown toward the top of the wing, dark brown in the middle, and leave the bottom of the wings gray. I've never painted my figs before, and judging the size of the beast, I think this might take some time. Oh well. It'll be fun, nonetheless.

I use Sharpie Markers as well as FolkArt acrylic paint and Testors model paint. Sometimes I'll use various inexpensive spray paints for larger characters (like my Shadow Beasts). After I'm through painting, I also spray them with a Rust-Oleum clear enamel to prevent the paint from chipping off or being scratched easily (also removes the "tackiness"). Even works [pretty well, not perfectly] on weapon handles.

Usually my painting only takes 1 coat, but at most I've done 3. If they're done thinly, they won't bulk up the characters or risk covering up details. The markers are usually dry within 5 mins, but the paint can take up to an hour or so (supposed to be "fast drying" but I give it that anyway just in case). However, once all that's dry, the clear-coat only takes 15 minutes to be dry to the touch (half-hour for perfection!).

If I ever have a paint error or change my mind about a color, I dip my figures or accessories in a paint thinner that works wonders! The color comes right off (it will also take the original MOTUC color off if you're not careful!) and after I dry it/them off, I repaint the piece(s). I can let them air dry, but usually use a paper towel to speed it up.

As to whether it's a good idea or not, that depends on you. I only do it when customizing a character. I don't alter any I want to keep as they are (so no color fixes on capes, hair, or de/re-flocking). If you do it right (and I've seen MANY who have!), they will look as if they fit perfectly into the MOTUC toyline.

You can check out my customs in the link below.

Last edited by Mistico; October 5, 2011 at 10:52pm.

From my youth and hometown when I was a kid...He-Matt and the Masters of the Kunaverse!

I'm going to agree with the talented posters above me. As you can see by their work, their word is law.

I'll just toss out that rule #1 for me is to use acrylics. A very common mistake is to use enamels. Someone who doesn't paint at all may(very understandably) not realize that there's a difference and just grab whatever paint they may have leftover from an old model car or buy some from a store which will often only carry enamels.

Enamels: Bad! Well, good for a lot of model kits, but they don't fully dry on soft action figure plastic. You may have a sticky figure for life.

Acrylics: Good! They even dry faster and you can clean your brushes with water rather than thinner.

The recommended acrylic brands so far are nice from what I've heard or experienced. I recommend even picking up a couple of colors in a cheaper brand to start out with and mess around painting some old toy or something from a garage sale that you don't care about. Something you don't care much about, but has a decent sculpt or details that you can try different techniques on. Think of it like taking notes before diving into your final project.

It's helpful to check this site since you're interested in painting MOTU stuff, but check around for guides to painting figures in general, or even model kits and rpg miniatures. Jin Saotome and Figurerealm have nice basic custom figure guides.

Ok, thanks to everyone, I got the joint out, fixed the problem and got it back in. Seems that it's easier to get back in from below when the bottom of the foot is removed. I don't have a heat gun (I didn't even know there were heat guns) and my hairdryer is useless when it comes to heating plastic, but hot water did the trick. Water itself may not help, but the heat conducted by it sure does.

But now I have a bigger challenge facing me. I decided to go nuts and try to mod 200X Skeletor's feet for MOTUC Skelly, but I'm not sure what the wisest course of action here is. Should I just make the appropriate holes with a dremel from the top and bottom and then try to pop in the ankle joint, or is there some way of splicing the old and new foot together that would work better?

This is totally unfamiliar territory for me, so if you have prior experience, please help!

"A problem which has become standard on the female Classics figures is the wobbly head. This is caused by the neck pin, which is loose in the neck. Applying superglue can fix the pin in place in the neck while leaving the head joint sufficiently flexible for posing the figure. Superglue should be applied very carefully and in small quantities because any excess will crystallize and turn white.

Pull the head off the figure carefully. Use a superglue with a pipette-shaped nozzle to apply small drops of the glue down the neck cavity. Hold the neck pin firmly (pushing it to the back of the neck) for one minute to allow the glue to begin to set. Leave the figure for twenty-four hours to set hard before reapplying the head. "

Question for you customizers out there

I wanted to seperate the cod piece on my vintage Grizzlor a nd put his legs on a Stratos buck. What is the best way of doing this without breaking that cod piece or breaking those rubberbands. Thanks in advance.

I wanted to seperate the cod piece on my vintage Grizzlor a nd put his legs on a Stratos buck. What is the best way of doing this without breaking that cod piece or breaking those rubberbands. Thanks in advance.

Your best best would be the boil and pop method. the rubber bands tend to get so brittle tho, that chances are it may still break, but boiling should help prevent the cod piece from breaking at least.

Like I promised ealier report about fix of female Classics figures wobbly heads issue. I used this fix for She-Ra and Adora. Finally I got results. This Fix really worked nicely. No more wobbly issues with these figures.

Weak Ankles. Anyone have a fix???

For the strongest man in the universe, my He-Man re issue has weaker ankles than my grandmother.

Does anyone have a fail safe fix for this poor QC issue on figures?

The best i have come up with is a tiny elastic band made from the clear elastic bands used in the MOTUC packaging but i think they might affect the colour/paint on the ankles after a while (the stands dont work to hold up weak ankle figures)

There is a method I've seen that works. Get a small paint brush and a bottle of Pledge Floorwax. Pour a bit of the wax into a plastic cup. Dip the paint brush in the wax and apply it to the moving part of the joint with the brush.

It should help to tighten things up. Take a look on line though. Also, the search feature here is your friend.